After shutting down during the summer of 2011, Zion Rock Gym is back in full force.  Owner and operator Sean Hudkins knew that they were going to reopen the gym even before it began to shut down.

Now that the gym is open again and the public can come in and climb, Hudkins hopes to see a new growth in the gym.  Hudkins hopes to see new faces come in to climb at Zion.

“We knew from the beginning that we were going to get it open one way or the other.  Over the Christmas break, we’ve kind of been waiting around for some things to happen and we decided to go ahead and get it open for our climbers that had been coming in and also just for the community to get back into doing what we love,” said Hudkins.

Originally Zion was opened  in the Searcy factory district.  Hudkins original idea for the gym was to start a gym that was very beginner friendly.

“We opened Zion about seven and a half years ago and just thinking about some different options on what we could do,” Hudkins said.  “Something I love and something I enjoy that hadn’t been done in a community this size but we decided to kind of step out on faith and go for it.  We just wanted to create an environment that was safe and very beginner friendly.”

Hudkins first started climbing around the age of 16 when his brothers took him to the local rock gym in Springfield, Missouri.  He has fond memories of climbing with his brothers and friends and remembers how much enjoyment he got out of climbing.

“The gym there in Springfield, a place called Rad’s Climbing Gym, had half price climbing,” said Hudkins. “So we went up there, climbed for a couple of hours  and the went to Mr. Egg Roll which was our Chinese joint there in town and just spent time together with each other and friends.”

Zion derived it’s name from Mount Zion.  Mount Zion is one of the mountains in the Bible.

“We had one of the girls that was in our group reading some stuff and came across Mount Zion.  At that point there was no discussion,” Hudkins added. ” We knew that Zion was going to be it.  It kind of underlines what we’re about, the foundation that we’re established on without stuffing it down your throat.  It stuck and we haven’t regretted that decision once.

All in all, Zion is back and ready for action.  Anyone is free to  climb and have fun.